Tech

The making of David Attenborough's virtual reality tour of the Great Barrier Reef

For the sake of bringing virtual reality to the public, a then-88-year-old David Attenborough clambered into a tiny Triton submarine in late 2014.

The beloved documentary maker and naturalist was filming a virtual reality experience, David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef Dive VR, which along with David Attenborough's First Life VR,is currently showing at the Australian Museum in Sydney.

After donning Samsung Gear virtual reality headsets, viewers can journey back in time to witness an animation of some of Earth's original life forms, before joining Attenborough under the waves, examining coral and sea life off the northeast coast of Australia. It's a seamless experience that belies the months of work and experimentation that went into creating it.

Image: Australian Museum

David Bradshaw, a producer at Alchemy VR, the UK-based company that helped create the two clips, spoke with Mashable Australia about the challenges of putting together a smooth virtual reality experience on the Great Barrier Reef. For one thing, he said, virtual reality is "a totally different art form" to normal documentary making.

The crew used multiple GoPro cameras attached to specialist underwater rigs that were wielded by divers to film among the coral and fish. A 360-degree camera rig was also secured to the mini-submarine in which Attenborough journeyed to the deep, so viewers could see and hear from him during the dive.

Given the use of more than one camera rig, the crew had to plan for the fact they'd be visible to the audience when they looked around the underwater world, but Bradshaw argued that's part of what makes virtual reality so interesting.

David Bradshaw, producer at Alchemy VR.

Image: Alchemy VR

"You actually get to see what David sees, as opposed to what the director has selected for the audience to see," he said, as happens in most nature documentaries. "You get to ride along and share that experience with David as he saw it. We haven't curated that after the fact. We've given you a David-eye view of the reef."

He suggested viewers would embrace the fact the mechanics of the shoot were visible. "People are really interested to see the challenges and how the technology was used by the film crew," he said. "It wasn't a behind-the-scenes of that shoot, it was the shoot."

Filming underwater also posed significant hurdles. "When you're shooting under the water, you're relying on the dive teams to propel themselves through the water [while] keeping [the cameras] stable and maintaining that experience for the end user," he explained. "We have to be very, very careful to deliver experiences that don't make people feel queasy."

According to Bradshaw, Attenborough was incredibly excited about the potential of virtual reality. "He has spent his entire career as a film maker, and has embraced this new medium," he said. "It was invaluable to have his creative input on a project like this."

Sir David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef Dive

Image: australian museum

Next up, Alchemy VR will be exploring the ancient world. "We're looking at experiences in Egypt — bringing the pyramids back to life, he said.

There are still plenty of stories left to tell about the natural world, however, and they are vital. The Great Barrier Reef is currently facing a devastating coral bleaching event — a phenomenon set to get worse as the world warms. For Bradshaw, filming the reef in virtual reality was also an opportunity to make a permanent record of its beauty.

"We're really excited to bring it to Australia, because there are a lot of Australians who haven't been able to dive on the reef, much less in a submarine accompanied by David," Bradshaw said. "It is important to capture the reef for both Australians and people around the world so it can stimulate these kinds of conversations."

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.